The alarm wasn’t supposed to go off yet. Routinely, for the last 3 years or so, it has always sounded at 8am on the dot. 5am is unfamiliar and of course, an annoyance. To awake to a howling, much like a werewolf at the moon, that sends a sense of urgency through to all who have had the misfortune to be gathered here, it needs to be known, what does it mean?

Hannah was one of the first to rise, bolting upright without hesitation as the lights flashed on. The general uneasiness that surrounds her on a daily basis usually stops her from falling into a deep sleep nowadays. “This is something new…. which is never good” she thought. She climbed down her ladder from the top bunk to check on her little sister Emily, who slept below her on the bottom bunk. Emily was one of the unluckier children who had been plucked from the Old Society at the tender age of 4 and placed within the New Society. Unlike Hannah, she did not have many memories of the “beforetime”. This is really all she had known for most of her life. Being 10 years old now, the little memories she did have are slowly fading away and swiftly being replaced with (what she is unaware of) some of the most harrowing, traumatic experiences that no 10-year-old should be subjected to. Whether she realises or not, without her sister Hannah, things could have been far worse.

Hannah loves her little sister. Being the 16-year-old eldest sister has always came so naturally to her. Since their parents gave them up 6 years ago, Hannah took on the motherly role and has always put Emily’s needs before hers. Hannah has been filled with rage ever since. She knows her parents gave them up to save their own backs and there was no way that she would ever be like any of them. None of this is normal, Hannah knows this more than most, but one things for sure; she cannot risk being separated from Emily under any circumstance.

“What’s going on?” Emily asks, yawning and rubbing the morning crust from her eyes.

“I’ve no idea” Hannah replies. “I need to try and speak to Charlie, you stay here. Don’t go anywhere or speak to anyone until I’m back, got it?”. Emily nods in confusion, wondering whether to try to fall back asleep or not.